Book Review-Raid by Kristen Ashley

Hanna Boudreaux has lived in the small town of Willow, Colorado all her life. The great-granddaughter of the town matriarch, she's sweet, cute and quiet.
Too quiet.
Hanna has a moment of epiphany when she realizes her crush for forever, Raiden Ulysses Miller, is not ever going to be hers. She sees her life as narrow and decides to do something about it.
Raiden Miller is the town of Willow's local hero. An ex-marine with the medal to prove his hero status, he comes home, shrouded in mystery. It takes a while but, eventually, Hanna catches his eye.
But after all these years of Raid and Hanna living in the same town, the question is, why? Is Raid interested in Hanna because she's sweet and cute? Or does Raid have something else going on?

Summary

Hanna Boudreaux has loved Raiden Miller from afar since she was six years old. She is used to Raidan not seeing her but she sees plenty of him. She keeps busy taking care of her grandmother, and making a good living crocheting top quality blankets and cooking jams to sell to boutiques all over the world. But then one day her life changed when Raiden took notice of her and she never saw it coming. Raiden Miller is the town’s hero, everyone in town love him and most especially all the single ladies go after him with a stick if possible. He is charming, sexy with some deeper edges to keep a aura of mystery around him. But Raiden’s is a ex soldier, and as such he has a painful past and what he has created in life for himself is not what could be acceptable to everyone. But Raiden has finally found a woman that he will fight for, a sweet but strong woman that broke through his wall of ice and found the real Raid…

Plot and Story Line

Wow,,,this story just packed a punch. Now so far Knight is still my favorite but honestly I swear each book is so unique and solid that I don’t think I could choose a favorite. Knight just happened to be the first book I read from this series and each time I love the way that Kristen Ashley has wrote these. In Raid we see a story where we see darker edges that has come with this series. In Raid, our heroine is a small town girl, who takes care of her gran when the rest of her family decided other responsibilities were more important. I loved how loyal and true Hanna is, especially to those that she loves.

“Honey, you look straight out of a chick flick. Cute outfit. Glass of wine. Sexy, messy hair. Cute house that looks out of a magazine. Not a lick of makeup and you look prettier than any woman I’ve seen in over a year. Gabbin’ on the phone like you look this good, in a place that looks this good every day when that shit’s impossible. Chick flick.”

“How the fuck can you make something that makes no sense make sense?”

“You, just like that, any man would fight and die for the privilege of comin’ home to that every day.”

“Now, are you gonna fuck me or spend the next hour talkin’ to me?” he asked.
“I suppose I’ll fuck you.” I muttered

And once she learns about the real Raiden, and what he does, she struggles a bit but she also stays solid and doesn’t lose sight of the big picture. You have to admire a heroine that takes the hero as is and accepts him even if she doesn’t understand it.She is goofy and silly and really balances out the seriousness of Raid. She makes him play and smile and laugh.

“Whether you got that in your bed before you go or hope to find it when you get back, that’s why you do it. You do it for her. You do it to keep her safe…. You get home in one piece, she’s your reward.”

His body pressed into mine…

“You’re my reward, Hanna.”

I love the way these two get close to each other and build a relationship together. Its real and solid and full of depth. It has plenty of smexy moments of course (and if you are worried about kink this one is full vanilla so no worries there), but I love the way Ashley writes because you get so drawn in and I seriously couldn’t put this audio book down.

“You’re gonna let me play with that body. You’re gonna let me work you ‘til you’re so fuckin’ wet you’re drenched for me. And when I let you come I’m gonna make it feel like you’re coming apart at the seams.”

There are some misunderstandings of course, but will two strong characters you are bound to have some miscommunication happen because thats life and these two have some hills to climb before they get to their happy ever after…but they get there and its simply fabulous when they do and to see what they go through to get there. Unique and fully satisfying, this author just takes your breath away and doesn’t let you down.

The Narration

Dara Rosenburg is a fabulous narrator, and at first I wasn’t sure when I listened to the sample, but this book I had heard made a fabulous audio book, so I knew I had to take a chance especially when I still have some credits over at Audible to use. I took a chance on this narrator, and yeah she was fabulous. Her voice is actually quite lovely to listen to, very feminine but she reflects some nice emotional tones.

The Cover

Not the most spectacular cover in the world, but I like that each cover to this series connects to the book.

Overall View

Raid is a whirlwind emotionally intuned romance that takes you on a adventure of sensuality, compelling characters and a small town setting that has charm that pulls you right in….SENSATIONAL!!!

Click To Buy On Amazon

About Kristen Ashley

Kristen Ashley was born in Gary, Indiana, USA. She nearly killed her mother and herself making it into the world, seeing as she had the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck (already attempting to accessorise and she hadn't taken her first breath!).

Kristen grew up in Brownsburg, Indiana but has lived in Denver, Colorado and the West Country of England. Thus she has been blessed to have friends and family around the globe. Her posse is loopy (to say the least) but loopy is good when you want to write.

Kristen was raised in a house with a large and multi-generational family. They lived on a very small farm in a small town in the heartland and existed amongst the strains of Glenn Miller, The Everly Brothers, REO Speedwagon and Whitesnake (and the wardrobes that matched).

Needless to say, growing up in a house full of music, clothes and love was a good way to grow up.